CH 41

[Creepy]

At one of several cafeterias in the academy.

Ethel Tyner was sitting in a seat separated by a wooden partition.

At the seats across the table were her friend as well as party member – Amanai Hayato and the guy’s childhood friend – Akano Reika side-by-side, and that childhood friend was slightly sullen.

“Iyaa, sorry for calling you suddenly. Even though you guys were having fun.” (Ethel)

“You don’t have to mind it, you know. There must be an urgent matter, right?” (Amanai)

“Mu—” (Akano)

“I’ll make it up to you next time…” (Amanai)

Amanai smiled at Reika who turned her face away at those words.

Ethel who sat across the table could see that the corner of Reika’s lips were curled up slightly in a grin.

Ethel did not understand how could she be happy by just that, but she did feel a little apologetic for interrupting their little date.

However, she had to report what she had to report; especially about that guy, she got a feeling that she had to report it as soon as possible.

“So, actually, it’s about the thing Amanai asked me to do, however.” (Ethel)

Ethel glanced at Reika sitting next to him for a moment.

Amanai noticed her line of sight and gave a small nod.

“She knows it too, so it’s okay.” (Amanai)

“That so? Then, cutting to the chase, ‘Sakurai Tōru’ has woken up, y’know.” (Ethel)

“Ah—… I see. So, what was he like?” (Amanai)

“Before that, I’ll ask one thing; Amanai, what are you intending to do by meeting him?” (Ethel)

Amanai frowned at Ethel’s question.

His purpose was to confirm whether or not the other party was a reincarnated person, same as himself, and to clarify his stance, but those were things he hesitated to tell her – an original game character.

A part of it was because he did not know how she would reach if she were to know the existences of reincarnated person or the original game, and also because he did not want their current relationship to get broken and lose her cooperation if he did tell her about it.

But Ethel’s question was one out of seriousness; it would be unfaithful if he were not to answer her.

“I just have something I want to confirm with him. Whether or not he is the one I know… I want to find that out.” (Amanai)

“Do you mean that you want to make sure if he is your old acquaintance?” (Ethel)

“Something like that. Sakurai Tōru is a common name, but I got curious when I found that he’s the same age.” (Amanai)

“Hmm? Did you have an acquaintance named Sakurai?” (Reika)

“Reika. Just as a woman has a women-only relationship, man also has a men-only relationship.” (Amanai)

“I can only agree when you put it like that.” (Reika)

In the end, Amanai decided to make his words ambiguous to the point it was not a lie.

Although what he said was true, Ethel felt suspicious at his remarks that did not contain any sort of concreteness, but she decided that it would be rude to pry too deep into the person she had just met after enrolling.

“I see. I was thinking of offering you my help in case he tries to pull something funny when you meet, however… someone like Amanai won’t need it, huh.” (Ethel)

“Is he that bad for Ethel to say such a thing?” (Amanai)

“He’s a weirdo one step short of being a lunatic, or rather, to put it in a word ‘creepy’, perhaps?” (Ethel)

Ethel frowned and spoke as objectively as possible about the incident in the hospital room.

It was supposed to be their first time meeting, but from the moment he woke up, he knew she was a miser and made use of that to control the pace of the talk.

While she did not understand the meaning of various words he said to her, he was taking the attitude of being the victim of money-making scheme that she was likely to do.

On top of that, she thought that he was just a crazy weirdo at first, but it turned out that he had the observing and reasoning ability to figure out that she was hired by someone to monitor him.

It could be said that these were things that could not be done without a deep understanding of the person named Ethel Tyner.

Was he a person who could understand that much from the person he met for the first time in a few moments after waking up? – she suspected, Ethel got the impression that ‘he was a creepy guy she doesn’t want to get involved with’.

“As for me, I don’t want to get involved with him as much as possible, but I think there are people who think that leaving him alone is a bad idea. Maybe, wasn’t it because the chairman of the disciplinary committee – Higaki-senpai thought so as well that she met him in person? Since I who just met him for a while got such an impression, perhaps Higaki-senpai who faced him properly had seen through him deeper, so they ended up fighting?” (Ethel)

“I see, he’s that kind of guy, huh…” (Amanai)

Amanai was convinced that Sakurai was a reincarnated person and knew about the original game.

Since only in that case would the impression Ethel had and the actions he took when he saw her made sense.

But because of that, he was also more cautious about Sakurai.

At least he did not mind about the influence of his own knowledge, and for better or for worse, he acted and behaved like he doesn’t have a complain of being treated as a weirdo… in short, he doesn’t care about the world, the ‘go my way’ type.

Amanai sighed at his increasing seeds of worries and put his weight on the backrest.

Ethel made an expression as though she had guessed something looking at his state, but Amanai did not notice that.

(From his appearance… it seems like he had his bad premonition came true.) (Ethel)

“For now, I got it. I’ll try meeting him by myself later.” (Amanai)

“You don’t have to force yourself, y’know? I think it’s better not to get involved with that guy.” (Ethel)

“I hope he’s not that kind of guy, but… well, there are times when a man must not back down. If I end up really lost on what to do, I’ll rely on you.” (Amanai)

“Then that means the contract has been completed for now! Gimme the reward please? And this is your treat, right?” (Ethel)

Amanai smiled wryly at Ethel, who turned into a money grubber at the next moment as she was worrying about him as though at the flip of the palm.

He wanted to say it was that part of her which made people didn’t like her, but he swallowed his words due to sympathy just because he knew her background, and all that came out was a forced smile.

“I think that part of Ethel is why people don’t like her.” (Reika)

“Hey, isn’t that terrible~? Everyone likes money, aight? My fondness of money is just a little bit deeper than most people, see~, it sure is regrettable—!”

That being said, Akano Reika, who didn’t know her situation, said so straightforwardly.

At her words, Ethel replied while making an “I’m hurt!” gesture deliberately; it could be seen that she was enjoying her exchanges with Reika.

While thinking that it was great that the two seemed to get along, Amanai worried about the contents of his wallet.